Mr Tanko Yunusa is the National Publicity Secretary of the Third Force, which , few weeks ago, declared an Alternative Government to be headed by the renowned Economist, Mr Pat Utomi....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
In this interview with THE WHISTLER, he spoke on what the group is doing and its political aspirations.
Is the Third Force on blackmail mission because some of the members were active supporters of Buhari?
I think it’s not only Pat Utomi that supported Buhari , virtually almost all Nigerians did. So would we now say that because Buhari is derailing that everybody should keep quiet, and will not raise issues? No, because all of us are looking for a better Nigeria. When the better Nigeria is not given to all, we are bound to challenge the status quo to do the right thing.
I think that was what happened in the case of Jonathan, when he was failing in governance, that everybody now came up to say, no, we cannot continue in that particular line. So also Buhari who also took over leadership and cannot deliver on the promises that he made to Nigerians. I think we should give kudos to those of us who are courageous enough to come out and challenge the status quo for a better and egalitarian Nigeria.
Why create alternative government when election is less than 14 months away?
The truth about it is that the situation keeps on getting worse every day without solution. And so we thought it is the right time for us to come out and start giving solutions. We’re not opposed to government, because the country is ours, but we are opposed to government policy that does not have any direct benefit on the lives and properties of the people.
When we come out to give all of this free consultancy, it is to assist in hoping that the government will take advice based on the fact that we too have opportunity under the Freedom of Information Act, to have access to information about government and its policies.
We’ll give clean, competent facts on how certain things can be done to the benefit of government and Nigeria itself. So, in a way what we are doing is preparing ourselves for governance in future if they fail to make use of the things that we are sending to the Nigerian people
What, in specific terms, is wrong with the Buhari Government ?
First, when you look at their communication with Nigerian people, there is no concrete, factual and proven communication. The president says something; his aides say another thing that creates a lot of confusion.
Two, there were promises apart from the political party manifesto itself, and what they intend to do to the Nigerian people, which was not actualized at all.
Then, there is the issues of corruption, economy and the security which were the issues that Mr. president used in campaigning for election. Out of all of these three, I can say that all of them have failed woefully.
Let’s look at the issue of security. Yes, at some point in time, Nigerians were having bombs explosion almost in every street. And then there were barricades here and there. But today, these bombs are exploding in individual homes.
Now kidnappers knock at your door at will, nobody is doing anything about it.
Mr. President is looking for somewhere to hide to protect his own family, from what we heard.
So that on its own is completely against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as contained in chapter two, which is the primary responsibility of Mr. president to protect the life and properties of every Nigerian irrespective of where he or she comes from.
On the issue of corruption, it seems as if there is a way in which they pamper anybody that comes into the APC , no matter the offence of the person. Rather, anybody that is opposing the government is being targeted. Some people now defect to protect themselves.
With regard to the economy, the trader money was being shared in the market without the corresponding positive effect on the lives of the people directly. The poor man on the street is completely hungry. Hungry because the economy is completely aversed to his own living standard. Today, the prices of commodity, which they promised to reduce have trippled.
Borrowing has skyrocketed within a level, you cannot even determine exactly what we are borrowing for. At a point in time, I heard that we were going to borrow from Chad, Niger and Benin Republics. These are countries that always look for us for succour. Imagine borrowing from them.
So the country is going down due to visionless leadership and incompetency and we said we must find solutions to it.
Talk to us more about the Shadow Government and what it intends to achieve?
The shadow cabinet is going to look at portfolios. These portfolios range from electricity power supplier, health, economy, to education and nation building – unity of the country.
Each cabinet has three persons in the committee, who are well organized individuals, who have studied the Nigerian situation so well to proffer solutions and give alternative solutions with facts and doable programmes that can help to take us out of the present predicament.
At any point in time, if any cabinet member has an idea on how certain situation can be solved, it is expected of him to bring it out to the table, for us to debate on it and publish it to the advantage of the government and for use in preparatory to taking over government, if God wills in 2023.
What manner of engagement are you talking about?
We will use the media as a tool to get across. We are also going to send solutions in writing to government and to our legislators so that they will be in the know of some of the things we are suggesting as a solution.
Somebody even said to me that Nigeria does not lack ideas but implementation; that Nigeria is not bereft of ideas. So in that situation, we will present it for implementation where the government fails to use it, we will use it as a document hoping that the Nigerian people will buy into our political platform that may be announced very soon, so they can vote for us in 2023.
You hope to metamorphose into a political party?
We are moving in that direction for us to have a political party because we understand the logic that you cannot only be advocating on the streets. You can only do what you preach when you have used a political platform to seek for political power, and that we shall do.
How do you intend to achieve this without any structure on ground?
The truth about it is that we are leveraging on the Nigerian youths who have come out en mass to say no to the situation on ground. Then we’re leveraging on the existing political parties who already have their structure on ground. All we need to do is address the situation and amplify the existing structure and wake them up to the grassroot so that they will now know that there is another political platform that is available for everyone.
Let me clearly say this, we are not saying that it has to be Tanko or Pat Utomi. We are saying that the Nigerian people should bring in some of the best candidates that they think have the quality and capacity to lead this country to be presented to the Nigerian people for voting. So in other words, it is a partnership of ownership within us that we are providing the platform and the Nigerian people who may end up becoming the candidate.
So in that way, we are going to build a critical mass of combined intellectuals, politicians, youths and women from the Nigerian population to present a candidate. This is because we have been able to establish that both the PDP and the APC are nothing but one seismic twin.
I understand that it is lack of choice of an alternative that may push people to go back to that particular dirty cocoon (PDP, APC) that they have already accused of failure.
Would you zone your Presidential ticket to the South East?
No, no. What we have said is, we know our south eastern brothers have capacity to lead this country. So, also any part of this country. We are not saying that we will not open our doors for any part; we are opening our doors for every part of the country. But we want the best that will unite this country (together) that is acceptable by the people generally.
Nobody will accuse us of denying him opportunity. The best can come from the east; it can come from the west. People will say he is the best, can he lead us? He may come from the east, may come from the west, and may come from anywhere as long as it’s Nigeria.
How do you intend to tackle the challenge of insecurity?
One of the key issues about insecurity in Nigeria is due to neglect of the local government by the governors. They are the first point to be blamed. Every governor is the chief security officer of his own state. But majority of them will come to say, well, we’re not in control of the police. We’re not in control of the Army. But they are in control of security votes. Every month, what do they do with it?
They annihilated the local government completely for their own personal and selfish interests.
The same governors have completely forgotten that there are local government that they control. Imagine if 774 local governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are being economically empowered on a monthly basis. And they are bringing out industries. People in the local governments are also gainfully employed; the youths who are living in that particular area are gainfully employed and they are being productive. I can assure you that the issue of security will have been something that will be in the past, because every Nigerian that is enjoying his work, making money and taking care of his family will not engage in anything that will cause problem for him to stop making money. So the first point of call is welfare of the people.
We will address insecurity when we address the welfare of the people
It is also very important that you take into cognizance, our local chiefs. Every state has a strong traditional institution, and all of these traditional leaders have information as to who comes in and out of their communities. And so you must take critical intelligence report in terms of what is going on within that domain.
There must be synergy between the various security agencies to deal with cases of insecurity. This synergy must also between the constituted authority and the local authorities to arrest criminals timely.
Also our borders must be properly policed.
Also, we should be able to identify anybody that’s coming into our country and provide protection for them and their businesses.
We must also start being a producing nation. It will help to guarantee the security and the property of the country. Because food security is key.
What’s the Third Force’s position on the New Amendment to the Electoral Act that allows for direct primaries?
It is very appalling and painful that anytime that it appears something good is happening to the people, we will have to end up in agitation, by going to the streets, fighting and even raising all of our muscles before the right thing is done. The truth about the direct primaries as being passed by the National Assembly was that initially the intention was not for the good of the people. It was only to protect the interests of the lawmakers who felt that they had been abandoned by the governors.
They only reacted to protect themselves from governors who select candidates for the House of Representatives, Senate and other positions.
We support direct Primaries and we urge the president to sign it into law and not listen to any talk about the cost of implementation.
